2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Community Developed Water Supply a Case Study of a Sustainable Model in Hampstead, St. Mary, Jamaica

Presented at Lightning Talk - Empowering Students and Strengthening Community Relationships

Insufficient resources restrict people's access to potable water in St. Mary, Jamaica. An established water authority with the requisite technology and engineering expertise can assist conventional practices for developing water supply systems, including operating and maintaining the system; this would enable the system to reach remote communities, even in hazardous areas, with a viable source to operate, rehabilitate, and maintain a potable water distribution network.

Engineers must have the knowledge and competencies to develop solutions to ‘out of the box’ situations. Instructors who adopt the Conceiving, Designing, Implementing, and Operating (CDIO) curricular framework for engineering education should consider incorporating development opportunities in the community to allow students to forge meaningful relationships.

This paper will discuss how incorporating social development within the engineering curriculum can innovate the development of potable water distribution systems using simplified engineering and construction techniques. It will examine a case study of a sustainable model water supply system and community water organization (CWO) in St. Mary, Jamaica. The development, through the input of key stakeholders, demonstrates how students can be trained to solve real-life problems. As a means of assessment, a solution that will benefit the community and align with the course of study can be a project of collective effort.

Authors

Mr. Omar McFarlane Sweeney University of Florida [biography]

Omar McFarlane Sweeney is an engineering professional with over thirty years of experience specializing in Civil, Construction Engineering, and Project Management. Throughout his professional career, he has successfully executed several major Government-related infrastructure projects. He is a consultant lecturer in Civil Engineering at the Heriot- Watt University, Scotland and sits on the Engineering Faculty Advisory Boards of the University of the West Indies and the University of Technology, Jamaica. He holds a Master of Engineering from the University of Florida and is currently pursing Doctoral Research in the area of New Infrastructure Planning and Development. He has completed postgraduate executive training programs at the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford.
Dr. Fazil T. Najafi University of Florida [biography]

For more than 40 years, Dr. Najafi has worked in government, industry, and education. He earned a BSCE 1963 from the American College of Engineering, University of Kabul, Afghanistan. In 1966, Dr. Najafi earned a Fulbright scholarship and did his B.S., MS, and Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia; his experience in industry and government includes work as a Highway Engineer, Construction Engineer, Structural, Mechanical, and Consultant Engineer. Dr. Najafi taught at Villanova University, Pennsylvania, and was a visiting professor at George Mason University and a professor at the University of Florida, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering. He has received numerous awards, such as Fulbright scholarship, teaching awards, best paper awards, community service awards, and admission as an Eminent Engineer into Tau Beta Pi. The Florida Legislature adopted his research on passive radon-resistant new residential building construction in the HB1647 building code of Florida. Najafi is a member of numerous professional societies and has served on many committees and programs; and continuously attends and presents refereed papers at international, national, and local professional meetings and conferences. Lastly, Najafi attends courses, seminars, and workshops and has developed courses, videos, and software packages during his career. Najafi has more than 300 refereed articles. His areas of specialization include transportation planning and management, legal aspects, construction contract administration, public works, and Renewable Energy.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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